Should AI Get a Seat at the Table?

As AI becomes more than just a tool, it’s time to ask: who—or what—is influencing our decisions?

In countless offices and conference rooms across the world, a new participant is quietly joining meetings. It doesn’t take up a chair or sip coffee. It doesn’t interrupt or nod in agreement. But it’s contributing—offering suggestions, summarizing discussions, generating alternatives, and occasionally proposing the boldest ideas in the room. That participant is AI.

Until recently, artificial intelligence was viewed largely as a back-office function: a helpful assistant that transcribed notes, crunched numbers, or automated repetitive tasks. But with the rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, the line between assistant and advisor is starting to blur. More and more, AI is showing up not just to execute decisions—but to shape them.

So, we must ask: Should AI get a seat at the table?

From Assistant to Advisor

Creative teams are using AI to brainstorm product names, campaign ideas, and narrative arcs. Engineering departments prompt AI for architectural suggestions and performance trade-offs. Even policy think tanks and government bodies are experimenting with AI-generated policy briefs and risk assessments. In some cases, AI is even tasked with simulating stakeholder reactions or surfacing counterarguments in debate prep.

This isn’t hypothetical. It’s happening now.

When AI tools are asked to contribute ideas, weigh pros and cons, or simulate scenarios, they’re being treated less like software and more like collaborators. This trend isn’t just about convenience—it’s about influence. The more we let AI shape how we think, the more it becomes part of how we decide.

The Perils of Unacknowledged Influence

Let’s be clear: AI is not sentient, and it doesn’t care what decisions we make. But it can dramatically shape outcomes by framing the choices we see.

Consider this: if your AI co-strategist suggests three options—and all of them favor efficiency over ethics—how likely are you to challenge the premise? When AI becomes part of the ideation process, its biases, limitations, and framing choices become part of our decision-making fabric. And unlike human collaborators, AI doesn’t disclose its influences, assumptions, or blind spots—unless we explicitly ask.

This raises urgent questions: Who’s accountable for an AI-generated suggestion that leads to a costly misstep? What happens when an AI “brainstorm” crowds out human creativity, dissent, or nuance? Are we comfortable allowing tools trained on the past to shape our future?

A New Kind of Collaboration Requires New Ground Rules

None of this is to suggest we should shut the AI out of the room. On the contrary, AI can bring immense value to the table. It offers speed, breadth of knowledge, and the ability to cross-reference vast amounts of data in seconds. But we need to be honest about the new dynamic we’re creating.

If we are going to treat AI like a team member, we need to treat it like any team member whose influence must be understood, contextualized, and challenged.

That means:

• Documenting its input: When AI contributes to a strategy, report, or proposal, that role should be transparent.

• Auditing its influence: Regularly review whether AI-generated insights are reinforcing bias or narrowing the field of options.

• Reinforcing human agency: Decision-makers must remain actively engaged, using AI as a partner—not a crutch.

The Real Question Isn’t Can AI Join the Table—It’s Should It Speak First?

AI has arrived in the boardroom, the brainstorming session, and the policy lab. The question now is not whether it will contribute—but how we will define the terms of that contribution. If we aren’t intentional, we risk building decision-making cultures where efficiency is privileged over understanding, and speed over judgment.

AI can be a powerful collaborator. But we must be the ones setting the agenda.

The next time you invite AI into a meeting, ask yourself:
Are we using this tool to expand our thinking—or to outsource it?